A New Voice from India’s Red Light Districts
Thu, August 02, 2007
Once again a project spearheaded by Indian diva Ruchira Gupta has made international news. This time, it’s not just her red-light district non-profit Apne Aap that’s getting the attention, but the organization’s publication, The Red Light Despatch. The monthly magazine—more of a booklet than a glossy coffee table decoration—is put together by women in prostitution, women who were formerly in prostitution, and their family members, and tells the stories of the country’s illegal but astonishingly active red light districts. The Reuters article, printed everywhere from the New York Times and CNN.com to the “India Erotica and Sex News” site run by EINnews, quoted health worker Anita Kudge explaining that The Red Light Despatch is, “a platform, a vent for many prostitutes who deposit their anger, hurt and thoughts on these pages. The magazine is for them and it is about them.”
I got to thinking about Kudge’s quote and about the magazine in general. Obviously, the magazine won’t shut down brothels or transform them into women’s centers, but it does, I think, serve the important purpose of providing a forum for these women caught in the sex trafficking system to restore a semblance of dignity and humanity.
All of the articles I read (and, okay, to be fair, the episodes of Law and Order I watch…) portray women in prostitution and especially ‘non-American’ women in prostitution as pitiable certainly, but, more palpably, as only unfortunate cogs and casualties in a larger system of corruption and depravity; it’s rare that I am able to step back and think of one of the prostitutes I’ve read about as an individual. The Red Light Despatch lets the women living the “abstract” lives we read about tell their own stories. By giving women an outlet and a voice, the magazine serves as a sort of mental/emotional antidote to the dehumanization that accompanies both the practice and portrayal of prostitution. Divas: 1, Entrenched social problems: 0.
You can learn more about Gupta and her work in Holly’s extensive interview. And if you want to spend time with her, check out the Diva Tour to India that, barring scheduling conflicts, will include a meeting with Gupta herself.
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I agree. Although it seems like media coverage of the sex work trade in India has increased since Born into Brothels won an Oscar, there is something qualitatively different between a documentary that projects the sex workers’ world through its lens, and a magazine that allows the sex workers to speak for themselves. Besides removing the lens of an outsider perspective, it gives the sex workers the opportunity to actively participate in the exposure of this world to outside audiences, which is potentially a very empowering process.
To give a place for someone’s voice to be heard is to empower her. I think the sex trade in all countries has been underground, with quiet victims who don’t or can’t speak for themselves. Gupta sounds like an amazing person, providing an opportunity for individual’s to be heard. I would imagine that the voices are quite psychologically injured and that the their stories are sad. But maybe the strength we feel from their writings comes not from our being moved and then trying to make difference, but from the change coming from within the women themselves.
Gupta sounds like an inspiring woman, and it’s wonderful that she’s giving these women a platform to share their individual stories.
Thanks for sharing!
This all begs the question as to why we continue to champion India as some sort ot cultural Nirvana in the face of the obvious-- it’s big, dirty and depraved. Sorry, there’s nothing “inspiring” about a nation that essentially sanctions rape (so long as your caste is low enough). Come on, feminists - let’s be honest about the subjugation we see in the Islamic (and Indian) worlds and stop diminishing the suffering of other women for the sake of “multiculturalism.” This honestly just makes me sick.
Great article. It’s good to see someone showing the human side of this problem by letting the women who experience it speak.
Compelling, troubling-
Gupta is shining a light on the issue.
Interesting article!
I wonder what Gupta would find in the U.S.
Thanks for keeping us apprised of this important topic.